"It sounds kind of rugged," Range Chair Erin Kallman said. "You don't have a bathroom that's indoors, you don't have a kitchen, and for people who are in professional schools, at first, that might cause you to pause."
At first glance, the University's 51 Range rooms are not that dissimilar from the 104 undergraduate rooms aligning the Lawn. They lack many of the amenities that students living in apartments or houses commonly take for granted, including air conditioning, indoor bathrooms and personal privacy. They are relatively small, one-room units furnished with a bed, desk, wardrobe, bookcase, rocking chair and in most cases, a fireplace. Both are historic sites of the University that are popular with tourists and where visitors enjoy snapping photos and mingling with students\nUpon further investigation of the Range rooms and the graduate students who occupy them, however, it is clear that the Range has a culture and history that are both distinct and unique to the University.
"We are a community," Kallman said. "Our selection process is a little bit better than the Lawn's. Our ability to self-select means that we're not just looking for people who do Honor and UJC and are in a fraternity and sort of the list of excellent extracurricular [activities] that all those kids have. We're looking for a character."
A former member of the Range's selection committee, Kallman explained that the Range strives for a vibrant community. "We're looking for open-door neighbors - somebody who is going to be sitting out in their rocking chair during the day, studying I don't know, French literature, or whatever it may be - people that are going to want to get involved in the community and really keep our spirit going. That's what makes it so unique."
To Kallman's own admission, the $4,990 cost per academic year may be so expensive that it limits the diversity of students on the Range. She believes, however, that ultimately there is a "good mix" of students. "It's almost 50-50 of people who were from U.Va. as people who were not from U.Va. [and] we actually get a lot of international students," she said. "We have a couple of people from the U.K. living on the Range right now, a guy from Korea, a guy from Taiwan."
The Range is a social and academic space that graduate students share with other graduate students, as well as with the larger community, said Charlie Harris, Range vice chair of elections.
"You do have to give up some autonomy," Range Vice Chair Joel Voss said, "but the benefits are what Jefferson intended. I get to meet peers who are not in my program and I think it's fascinating to live where there's a plethora of people pursuing different degrees."
Jefferson envisioned that this cornerstone of his Academical Village would be a place where professors and students of varying fields could interact with one another. Although the Range did not become an exclusively graduate residence until the end of World War I - when the University separated the Academical Village into two parts - this national landmark and World Heritage Site has always been a setting for formal and informal learning and public discourse.
To continue this tradition, students must be willing to reconcile the fact that their private living areas are also public spaces, Voss said.
"It's something you have to be comfortable with," said Kallman, who has lived on the Range for almost three years. "With the privileges come a little bit of responsibility, and that's being able to welcome people to the University."
Many Range students enjoy teaching tourists about the history of their residences. Kallman takes pride in living in one of two larger Range rooms called the Crackerboxes, which are unique because they are thought to be kitchens built in the mid-19th Century. Housing the "biggest fireplace on all of Grounds," the Crackerboxes, she said, allowed workers to cook the meals that fed gentlemen who lived on the Lawn or Range.
The outer walls of the East Range, she added, are dotted with musket holes, as they were once used for target practice. Beside the bedroom doors, visitors can view the century-old signatures of former University graduate students.
Room 13, the supposed residence of Edgar Allen Poe, remains unoccupied today. Tourists may view the room and, by pressing a button, hear a detailed chronology of Poe's life and his experiences at the University. Woodrow Wilson's room, number 31, is also known to pique people's interest, Kallman said.
"We all want to live in Poe's room," Voss joked.
In previous years, Harris said, there has been competition in selecting rooms as well as some sort of a disconnect between students of the East Range and West Range, but this year, he said the Range residents seem more unified.
The Range Council has organized a number of social outings for the group, including wine tasting and tubing. It also has begun planning its annual community service project, which this year will take place at Camp Holiday Trails. Although Council has not yet decided what specifically the project will entail, in the past, Range students have helped with trail cleanup, barn painting and general upkeep at the camp. It is an aim of the Range Council and the Range community to continue to give back to the University and Charlottesville communities. And, it is the reason why many students choose to live on the Range in the first place, Harris said.
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